The Boulder Dam Hotel has been part of Boulder City history since opening in 1933. Designed by Mort Wagner, it was built by Paul Stewart "Jim" Webb, Raymond Spilsbury, and Austin Clark in Cardenas Plaza, known today as Hotel Plaza, one of Boulder City's three original downtown squares. Expanded in 1934 and 1935, the hotel was acquired by Glover "Roxy" Ruckstell in 1936 and merged into his Grand Canyon-Boulder Dam Tours, a company that also included Grand Canyon Airlines, Murk Emery's Lake Mead tour boat concession, exclusive operation of the Boulder City Airport, and the sole tourist concession in what became the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. During the 1930s and 1940s the hotel hosted wealthy and famous guests including Bette Davis, Ronald Colman, Boris Karloff, Will Rogers, the Maharaja of Indore, Bank of America founder A. P. Gianini, and Howard Hughes. After World War II the hotel fell on hard times, closing and reopening several times, and except for a short period from 1969 to 1973 when it served as a retirement home, it has remained an integral part of Boulder City.